The two biggest releases for Christmas 1970 were George Harrison’s "All Things Must Pass" and "Stephen Stills". That’s how big the southern balladeer was back then, a superstar. Over time he squandered his capital. Oh, he came back eventually, in 1977, with a CSN reunion. But it’s funny how Neil Young is seen as a legendary iconoclast, and Stephen Stills has almost been forgotten.

They don’t come any more difficult than Neil Young. But somehow Stephen Stills is seen as the asshole. Even though it was Neil who canceled their joint tour in ’76 with a telegram.

Sure, Neil’s gone on to reinvent himself a number of times. And for this he gets, and deserves, our respect. But that doesn’t mean Stephen has to be forgotten. Playing "Just Roll Tape" will illustrate why he should be remembered.

You’ll dial it up to hear demo takes of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "Wooden Ships", but it’s the opening track, the almost unheard "All I Know Is What You Tell Me", that will make an impression. It’s like discovering a Dead Sea Scroll. That exact magic that riveted you so three and a half decades ago, you’re still susceptible, you still desire another hit.

Funny thing, one’s first listen to "Just Roll Tape" is a bit of a disappointment. You know the slick studio takes so well, that the original demos pale in comparison. But as you listen, you warm up to them, you re-enter a past phase of your life, when you still had your youthful dreams. Right after Kent State and before disillusionment set in. From which we only recovered briefly, in the nineties, during the booming economy. Still, these takes pre-date those days, by a couple of years, they were cut in ’68. But we forever date these tracks to the time of their public release.

I don’t know if a teenager will understand "Just Roll Tape". It’s rough. Just a young bluesman and his guitar. Akin to Robert Johnson on that double CD package. Yes, there’s an essence here. This is the music that changed a million lives, even more than that of Mr. Young. Or at least accompanied one’s losing one’s virginity, graduating from college and facing the big bad world. We had confidence on the outside, but inside, we were a bundle of nerves, we were confused, we relied on our music to keep us together. Stephen Stills kept us together.

All these years later, that solo debut is just shy of a masterpiece, with some of Jimi’s last playing. So, the single, "Love The One You’re With" wasn’t as good as "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" or "Carry On". "Black Queen" had the darkness of the era, it’s a quintessential album track from when you skipped the single and ONLY played the cuts not featured on the radio.

"Black Queen" is here. In a take you’d hear an unknown musician working out in a bar while you were quaffing a beer in the middle of nowhere. This guy is going to make it, you just don’t know yet.

We didn’t know Stephen Stills was going to make it. "For What It’s Worth" was an anthem, but Buffalo Springfield was a faceless band, we didn’t know who was in it until AFTER the CSN explosion.

It’s just amazing how many of these tracks were written years before their commercial release. "Change Partners", from "Stephen Stills 2". "So Begins The Task" from MANASSAS!

That was the pinnacle. When not enough people were paying attention anymore. That double record set, with a band containing Chris Hillman and Al Perkins, if that band were on the road today…

Well, most people wouldn’t care. Unless they were dedicated fans. And that’s all that’s left, dedicated fans. Who need to own "Just Roll Tape", if they can find out it exists. They need to own this to prove to themselves it wasn’t just nostalgia, the music of those days of yore was as innovative and vital as they remember it.

But, if "Just Roll Tape" had been released back then, at the height of CSN mania, it would have gone platinum. That’s how big a star Stephen Stills was.

And I guess the lesson is one of transparency. Don’t hold back, don’t only release what’s marketable, salable. At the height of one’s fame, the public wants EVERYTHING you do. Then again, too many of today’s "musicians" don’t do much…

Go to StephenStills.com The player starts straight up with "All I Know Is What You Tell Me". Turn it up. It won’t bother the neighbors. It’s wooden music.

And maybe you want to fast-forward to hear the classics (you can do this by dragging the slider to the end in any tune, it brings you to the next), but when you start from the top again, and hear the "new" track, you’ll suddenly be in the groove, you’ll feel at home, you’ll tell yourself this is where you once belonged.